Cartridge hand loading tool



Dec. 24, l 57 T. H. LAINE CARTRIDGE HAND LOADING TOOL Filed Nov. '7, 1955 /NVEN TOR 7/70/7705 hi Lame ATTORNg Y5 Unite Sttes CARTRIDGE HAND LOADING TOOL Thomas H. Laine, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application November 7, 1955, Serial No. 545,357

3 Claims. (Cl. 86-23) My invention relates to ammunition for firearms and particularly to a tool for use in loading rifle, revolver, pistol or other small arms cases.

When such a case is loaded some, and usually all, of the following operations are necessary:

(1) The case must be sized in order that it fit the chamber in which it is designed to be fired and also to insure a friction tight holding of the bullet in the neck or mouth of the case.

(2) In cases that have been fired the spent primer must be forced from the primer pocket.

(3) A live primer must be pressed into the primer pocket.

(4) A bullet must be seated to the correct depth in the case and, sometimes, crimped.

These four operations are carried out by aflixing appropriate loading dies (commonly known as resizing and decapping dies, primer seating dies, and bullet seating dies) to the loading tool; and my invention is designed for use with such dies as are commonly manufactured for these purposes.

Tools of this character are well known, and most of them are known as bench tools which must be firmly secured to a bench or wall in order to operate. Such tools are commonly called straight line tools. Other tools of this general character comprise a pair of pivotally connected levers one of which is adapted to carry a die into which the case is forced by a closing movement of the levers. The die has its axis normal to the lever and the means which forces the case into the die is fixed to the other lever with the result that when this means first contacts the base of the case it contacts its adjacent edge and when the lever is further moved to force the case into the die the forcing means must slide across the base of the case or in a direction generally normal to the axis of the case, thereby exerting lateral pressure or force. Such lateral force tends to and does distort:

(l) The case entering the die.

(2) The flash hole of the case when the primer ejecting pin enters and passes through same in the process of forcing spent primers from the case.

(3) The live primer as it is forced into the primer cup.

(4) The case neck or mouth when the bullet is forced into its proper seat.

The principal object of my invention is to eliminate these difficulties produced by lateral pressure or force and produce a device which is adapted to load a cartridge case and in which the case is always maintained coaxial with the die and the pressure which forces it into the die is applied along this axis. Another object is to provide a device of this character into which a case to be treated may be inserted and held, and which will then be, and will remain, coaxial with the axis of the die irrespective of the relative positions of the levers or the lever and the base.

I accomplish these objects by the means described below and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- 2,817,252 Patented Dec. 24, 1951 Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my device showing only portions of the handles;

Fig. 2 is atop plan View thereof;

Fig. 3 shows the parts having a case positioned therein which is about to be forced into the die;

Fig. 4 is a section of Fig. 2 in the plane 44;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the means which holds the case to be treated when inserted therein; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the lower lever without the handle.

As illustrated in the drawing, my device comprises a pair of levers 1 and 2 which are pivotally connected together at 3. Although I have shown two levers, it is to be understood that the lever 1 might be considered as a base which could be secured to a table top or other surface, with sufficient clearance underneath it, by means of screws inserted through the passages 4 and 5, shown in Fig. 6. As illustrated, the handle 1 has two laterally spaced portions 6 (see Fig. 4), and the handle 2 has two like portions 7. Pivotally mounted between the portions 6 of the handle 1 is a block 8 having trunnions 9 and 10 thereon (see Fig. 5) which are rotatably mounted in the laterally spaced portions 6. Mounted in the lever 2 is a second, similar block 12 having trunnions 13 and 14 thereon. The axes of the trunnions 9 and 10, and 13 and 14 are equidistant from the axis of the pivotal connection 3.

Secured to or forming a part of the block 12 is an upstanding tubular cylinder 15 which is internally threaded to receive a loading die 16. The block 8 is provided in the top thereof with a recess 18 adapted to receive and hold the base of a case 19 (see Fig. 3) when slid therein. The block 8 is also provided with a passing 20 therethrough adapted to pass the expended primer which is forced out of the shell.

In order to insure that the case 19 when inserted in the block 8 will always .be coaxial with the die, irrespective of the relative positions of the handles 1 and 2, a rod 21 is threadedly secured in the trunnion 9 on the block 8 and passes freely through the trunnion 13 parallel to the common axis of the case 19 and the die, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that in order to load a case it is merely necessary to open the device, insert the shell in the recess 18 in the block 8 and push the handles together in order to force the shell into the appropriate die. Thus, the device does not exert any deforming stresses on the case and the pressure by means of which it is forced into the die always acts in the direction of the axes of said case and said die.

Although I have illustrated my levers as being connected together at their ends, it is obvious that they might be connected at an intermediate point and have the handle at one side and loading elements at the other side of the connection.

While I have described my invention in its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the words which I have used are words of description rather than of limitation and that changes, within the purview of the appended claims, may be made without departing from the true scope and spirit of my invention in its broader aspects.

What I claim is:

l. A cartridge loading tool comprising a base element having two laterally spaced portions; a lever; means pivotally connecting said lever at one end thereof to said base element; means between said laterally spaced portions of said base element adapted to engage and hold the base of a case when inserted therein; means pivotally connecting said case holding means to said base to pivot about an axis parallel to the axis of the means connecting said lever to said base element; means adapted to hold a loading die therein; means pivotally connecting said die holding means to said lever to pivot about an axis parallel to the axis of said lever connecting means; the axes of said die connecting means and said case holding connecting means being equidistant from the axis of said lever connecting means; and means cooperating with said die holding connecting means and said case holding connecting means for maintaining said die holding means and a case in said case holding means coaxial irrespective of the position of said lever.

2. A cartridge loading tool comprising a base element having two laterally spaced portions; a lever; means pivotally connecting said lever at one end thereof to said base element; means between said laterally spaced portions of said base element adapted to engage and hold the base of a case when inserted therein; means pivotally connecting said case holding means to said base to pivot about an axis parallel to the axis of the means connecting said lever to said base element; means adapted to hold a loading die therein; means pivotally connecting said die holding means to said lever to pivot about an axis parallel to the axis of said lever connecting means; the axis of said die connecting means and said case holding connecting means being equidistant from the axis of said lever connecting means; and a rod secured to the means pivotally connecting said shell holding means and slidably cooperating with the means pivotally connecting said die holding means for maintaining said case holding and die holding means coaxial irrespective of the position of said lever.

3. A cartridge loading tool comprising a pair of levers; means pivotally connecting said levers together at one end thereof; a loading die; a first means pivotally connecting said die to one of said levers to rotate about an axis parallel to the axis of the means connecting said levers; means adapted to hold a case to be loaded; a second means pivotally connecting said holding means to the other of said levers to rotate about an axis parallel to the axis of said first means; and a rod parallel to the longitudinal axis of said die cooperating with said first and second means maintaining said axis of said die and the longitudinal axis of a case in said holding means in the same straight line irrespective of the relative position of said levers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 637,730 Gripman Nov. 21, 1899 

